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Oppenheimer names new Main Street funds team

OppenheimerFunds Inc. of New York announced today a new management team for its three Main Street funds — a 12-person team pulled from RS Investment Management Co. LLC of San Francisco, a subsidiary of New York-based Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America.

OppenheimerFunds Inc. of New York announced today a new management team for its three Main Street funds — a 12-person team pulled from RS Investment Management Co. LLC of San Francisco, a subsidiary of New York-based Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America.

Manind Govil, who left RS Investment Management in March and joined Oppenheimer May 1, has been named team leader of the Main Street team and portfolio manager of the three Main Street funds.

He was joined by 11 of his former colleagues from RS Investment Management yesterday including portfolio managers, analysts and a trader.

The team will manage the Oppenheimer Main Street Fund (MSIGX), Oppenheimer Main Street Small-Cap Fund (OPMSX) and the Oppenheimer Main Street Opportunity Fund (OMSOX).

The team replaces the former portfolio managers on those funds, Mark Zavanelli and Marc Reinganum, who left the company yesterday.

“The firm made the decision that they wanted to run the Main Street funds with both quantitative and fundamental analysis, rather than just quantitative, as they were before,” said Oppenheimer spokeswoman Jeaneen Pisarra.

“They were looking for a team qualified to do both.”

At RS Investment Management, Mr. Govil had been a lead portfolio manager since 2004. Prior to that, he held several positions including lead manager for large-cap equities, co-head of equities and head of equity research at Mercantile Capital Advisors Inc. of Baltimore.

Oppenheimer had $130 billion in assets under management as of March 31.

RS Investments announced in March that the RS Large Cap Alpha Fund (GPAFX) and related portfolios managed by Mr. Govil would be managed by the firm’s 13-member RS Value Team.

“RS has a deep bench of talent, which has enabled a smooth transition of portfolio management responsibilities to the 13-member RS Value Team,” RS spokeswoman Pat Harden wrote in an e-mail.

The professionals on the RS Value Team bring an average of 14 years of investment experience to a process that spans the market cap spectrum, the firm said in its March statement.